episode_0110

As the sun was just beginning to set.

Momiji crouched in her small room, fiddling with the flip phone Takuya had given her, checking its functions.

No, rather than checking the functions, it was because this flip phone was the only way she could feel Takuya’s presence in this suffocating house.

Click, click-click, click.

“Heh heh.”

As Momiji pressed the flip phone’s keypad for a long time, she felt laughter bubble up involuntarily.

This smile wasn’t because pressing the keypad was fun.

It was simply because she was happy.

For the past few months, Momiji’s life had been full of dream-like events.

The bullying she endured at school had disappeared, a hero had appeared to save her, and most importantly…

‘Takuya-kun… I want to see him.’

…she had fallen for someone.

Perhaps, if her past self from a few months ago – or more precisely, Momiji who had decided to commit suicide – had seen this scene, she would have been surprised at how happy she could become.

Even she, the person experiencing it, was surprised.

Of course, her family was still indifferent to her, but that would improve someday.

Momiji thought so, and continued operating the flip phone Takuya had given her.

As she fiddled with it, Momiji suddenly yearned to see Takuya and thought:

‘Should I contact Takuya-kun?’

Thinking this, she discreetly went into Takuya’s contacts and was about to text him…

Ding-dong!

…until someone rang the doorbell at Momiji’s house.

Hearing the doorbell, Momiji thought it was another person who had borrowed money from her father.

This wasn’t the first or second time it had happened.

Of course, she briefly wondered if it was the stalker.

‘He hasn’t been around much lately. It should be fine.’

With a hesitant thought, she walked towards the door.

“Yes, coming.”

What she saw when she opened the door was…

“Pant. Pant. Finally. Finally!”

…a middle-aged, unsettling man exhaling unpleasant breaths and staring intently at her.

And at the sight of this man, Momiji instinctively knew.

This was the owner of the sticky gaze that had followed her all this time—the stalker.

Realizing this, Momiji immediately tried to close the door, but…

Click.

“Where do you think you’re going, Mi-chan?”

The middle-aged man—no, the stalker—quickly grabbed the door before it could close and flung it wide open. Unable to resist the stalker’s strength, Momiji lost her grip on the doorknob and fell to the floor.

Realizing she couldn’t escape with the middle-aged man blocking the doorway, Momiji quickly opened her flip phone, intending to send a distress signal.

‘Q-quickly! I need to contact Takuya-kun!’

Momiji thought this and tried to type quickly on the keypad, but…

“Trying to call the police? Too late for that, Mi-chan!”

The kidnapper said that and brought something to her mouth.

Momiji felt her consciousness fade.

Even so, Momiji used her last ounce of strength to send the text message, and at the same time…

Thud!

…the flip phone dropped to the ground, and she lost consciousness.

***

Tsutomu, after getting dressed, ran to a pachinko parlor, surprisingly.

He didn’t come here to gamble, despite it being disguised as entertainment.

After all, he had never gambled with money in his life.

He slowly took a breath as he gazed at the place, which, in stark contrast to its flashy entrance, was filled with enough cigarette smoke to obscure the view, and people who exuded a similar aura to his own.

After exhaling the air from his lungs, Tsutomu, as if resolved, strode through the pachinko parlor, searching for a particular person.

The person he was looking for was, surprisingly…

Whirr, whirr, ding!

“Argh! Failed again! Damn my money!!”

…a person who looked like a thug, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, clearly appearing delinquent. No…

“Good day, Momiji’s Father-nim.”

“Huh? I’m already in a bad mood, who are you?!”

It was Momiji’s father.

Tsutomu spoke to such a person.

“I have some good news.”

“Good news?”

“I wish to give you money. Could we talk for a moment over there?”

“You want to give me money?! Then of course we should talk! Let’s go outside first.”

More precisely…

“Do you have any intention of selling your daughter?”

“What kind of bullsh—”

“The price is around 1 million yen.”

…it was to buy Momiji from that man.

Through several instances of stalking, Tsutomu had already fully grasped what kind of people Momiji’s family members were, his targets.

Momiji’s family members were, in common parlance, human trash.

Her mother was someone who spent more money on hosts than on her daughter, and her father was the typical human trash and lower-class individual who squandered money at pachinko parlors like this.

And Tsutomu intended to buy Momiji from such people.

The money he currently possessed was approximately 2 million yen.

In Korean won, it was about 20 million won.

Since his hobbies—stalking, murder, and candid photography—didn’t cost much, he had accumulated a substantial amount of money.

And with this money, Tsutomu…

‘W-with this, I’ll buy Momiji from her family.’

…intended to buy Momiji from her family.

How was this possible?

Considering the hobbies of Momiji’s parents, 2 million yen was a considerable sum.

Of course, if one considered this money to be for selling a person’s life, it was an absurdly small amount.

But Tsutomu knew.

He was certain that if it were those people, who were currently hearing the price and contemplating whether or not to sell their own daughter, they would definitely sell her. Tsutomu was confident.

And speaking of this, one might wonder why he was buying a woman.

One might ask why he didn’t just kidnap her as usual, but his reason for not doing so was very simple.

He was anxious.

Surprisingly, the police had already visited Tsutomu regarding a corpse disposal case.

While it was merely for investigation, Tsutomu interpreted it as the police having already gathered enough evidence to consider him a suspect.

Fortunately, thanks to the physical education teacher incident, the police’s investigation network had loosened, but Tsutomu was still sensitive to the knife tightening at his throat.

Therefore, Tsutomu intended to do it safely this time.

He would buy Momiji from her parents so that no report would be filed.

And after imprisoning Momiji deep in the mountains, a place he had prepared in advance…

…he would slowly savor the child Momiji’s flesh for a very long time.

Whether it was her flesh or her body.

‘Heh heh, heh heh, just imagining it is delightful.’

Because he was a lolicon and a necrophiliac.

Tsutomu thought this to himself and showed an unsettling smile.

At this sight, the man, Momiji’s father, looked at Tsutomu with a disgusted expression, but his contemplation continued.

He wasn’t simply conflicted by the idea of selling his daughter.

He was human trash who believed it would be best to sell off his useless daughter immediately if he could.

In the first place, he had only married because a woman he had slept with for money during his host days had gotten pregnant.

His reason for contemplating was nothing else.

‘Could I sell her for a higher price?’

He was thinking he might be able to sell his daughter for an even higher price.

‘What if I sold her through a madam? Maybe I could get even more?’

He thought for a moment, then shook his head.

‘No. Madams only look for pretty girls.’

If she had resembled him, she surely would have been pretty, but perhaps because she resembled the woman who had suddenly gotten pregnant, his daughter wasn’t very pretty.

Would anyone truly buy such a daughter for 10 million won?

Thinking about it, it seemed there would be no one but this idiot in front of him.

“…..You’ll really give me 1 million yen if I give you my daughter?”

“Heh heh, o-of course.”

“Ah, but it feels a bit too little…”

“I cannot offer any more than this.”

“Tsk, fine. I’ll sell her. I’ll sell her.”

In the end, at Tsutomu’s words, the man who was Momiji’s father sold Momiji for the price of 10 million won.

Tsutomu handed the man the bag of money he had prepared and said:

“I will take your daughter today, immediately.”

“Whatever.”

Momiji’s father said this and went back inside the pachinko parlor.

As if Momiji didn’t matter at all to him.

Watching him, Tsutomu resumed his steps.

His destination was the place where the woman known as Momiji’s mother worked.

This time too, he went to Momiji’s mother at her workplace and asked if they could talk.

Momiji’s mother frowned sharply at his words, but once money was mentioned, she quickly came to a corner.

And Tsutomu made the same offer to Momiji’s mother.

“You’ll really give me 1 million yen if I sell that useless girl?!”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

“Squeal! Then how many times can I sleep with Ikemen~!”

“Haha, I suppose so.”

“Of course I’ll sell her! Ah, should I even draw up a contract?”

“Ah, no. I’ll just quietly take your daughter.”

“Oh, well, then I’m grateful~”

And Momiji’s mother also sold Momiji without a second thought.

Tsutomu, having given all the money, walked down the street with his head bowed low, desperately trying to suppress his laughter.

“Hee hee hee.”

‘W-with this, the wall blocking me and Mi-chan has disappeared!’

Because now, finally, the wall between him and her was gone.

Thus, Momiji’s kidnapping was carried out with the tacit approval of her parents.

***

And at the very moment Momiji was being kidnapped…

Takuya was…

[Save─]

…perplexed by the mysterious message Momiji had sent.

No, more precisely…

[Third Option]

…he was even more perplexed by the scenario that had suddenly appeared.